


Making a Bad Day Better

by MusicalLuna



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bad Days, Curtain Fic, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, M/M, POV Steve Rogers, Pepper Potts Is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Gets a Hug, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-07-20 13:13:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16137980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicalLuna/pseuds/MusicalLuna
Summary: At seven-thirty when Steve had gotten back from his morning run, JARVIS had notified him he had a text from Pepper.He’d read it aloud while Steve guzzled water in the kitchen.“Red alert. Today is a trainwreck.”“Uh oh,” Steve had said, still breathing heavily. “It’s early for that.”





	Making a Bad Day Better

**Author's Note:**

> rainbowstarbird asked:
> 
> Hi! Sorry to hear that you're having a hard time. I'm just coming off a depression dip myself, so I'd love it if you could write some just incredibly fluffy Steve/Tony. Like one or the other having a No Good Very Bad Day and the other one just supporting them and loving them and reminding them that it's okay to feel shitty and things will be alright? Bonus points if it involves sappy reminders of how much they love each other and all the praise and affirmation. And I hope you feel better!  
> \--  
> depression is such a brat. i hope this is something like what you were hoping for <3

At seven-thirty when Steve had gotten back from his morning run, JARVIS had notified him he had a text from Pepper.

He’d read it aloud while Steve guzzled water in the kitchen.

“Red alert. Today is a trainwreck.”

“Uh oh,” Steve had said, still breathing heavily. “It’s early for that.”

“Indeed.”

Tony’s day doesn’t improve. Pepper updates Steve periodically via text, mostly with phrases like,  _Oh god._

_Today is a catastrophe._

_I’m glad he’s coming home to you._

From the sound of things, it’s just one disaster after another. Steve decides the best option is to be there to pick Tony up at the end of the day. He coordinates with Pepper to make it work.

It’s after nine when Steve's car pulls up in front of the restaurant where Tony’s dinner meeting took place. He steps out to wait.

It’s hot out, but the breeze is cool. Steve is glad that he’s had a relatively ordinary day because it means his emotions are even-keel and he can focus on Tony and soothing him.

The door to the restaurant opens, letting out a burst of the clamor inside and Tony. He’s with another man in a suit and he’s laughing, but Steve can hear the strain in it. He doesn’t think it’s the man himself so much as Tony being exhausted.

Even like this he’s beautiful and Steve smiles, watching and waiting.

Tony and the other man shake hands and exchange farewells and cheek kisses. Then the other man walks away and hails a cab and Steve watches Tony deflate.

Steve gives him a moment just to breathe and then approaches, hands in his pockets. “Need a lift?”

Tony looks up, strain and weariness lining his face, and then he sees Steve and he breaks into a tired smile. “Steve.”

“Hi. Pepper said you had a rough day.”

Tony snorts. “Well, it wasn’t in my top five worst ever.”

“Oh,” Steve says mildly, “well, then it wasn’t bad at all, was it?”

He’s proud of the little bark of laughter that ekes out of Tony. He holds out a hand and reels Tony in when he takes it, kissing the corner of his mouth softly. Tony’s eyes flutter closed and he lets his head fall forward, coming to rest on Steve’s chest. “Today sucked.”

“I’m sorry,” Steve says, laying his cheek against the top of Tony’s head. He rubs Tony’s back in slow circles, feeling him breathe out his stress. “Can I take you home?”

“If you leave me here, I’m breaking up with you.”

Steve guides him over to the car and opens the door for him, handing him inside. When he follows, Tony is slumped in the seat, head back, pulling at his tie.

“The Tower, please,” Steve requests as he closes the door behind him. Then he raises the partition.

Tony pulls the tie up toward the roof, tipping his head to the side. “Help me out here, huh?”

“Captain America doesn’t do that kind of thing,” Steve says with a straight face.

“Captain America is a goddamn liar,” Tony grumbles. He tosses the tie on the floor and starts stripping off his jacket. When he struggles, Steve catches hold of it and helps him get it off. The shirt comes next and Steve can’t help the way he watches as his arms and shoulders are revealed.

Tony catches him looking and his mouth flickers up in a smirk. “Really? Now?”

Steve shrugs. “I like looking at my guy. He’s a good-looking fella.”

Tony huffs and looks down at his lap.

Steve takes Tony’s hand and pulls him in until he lists to the side and lets his head come to rest on Steve’s shoulder.

“Thanks,” he says after a moment of quiet. “For coming. Made things better.”

Steve nods and draws him into a kiss that’s feather-light. No pressure, no demanding, just the soft touch of their lips and their breath mingling. He strokes Tony’s cheek. “You make the world better. It’s the least I can do.”

Tony’s face twists and he looks away. “I really can’t handle you saying things like that when I’m this wiped.”

“Saying things like what? The truth? How many people’s lives did you change today? How many people did you help? How many did you protect?”

“I think I did more of the opposite,” Tony mutters and starts to pull back. Steve refuses to let him.

“No, Tony. I know you had a bad day and probably whatever happened brought to your attention mistakes you’ve made, but you’re going to fix them, aren’t you? You’ll do better in the future, because you always do. You’re building a better future one day at a time and I am so lucky that I get to be here and stand by you through it.”

“Fuck,” Tony whispers and Steve catches a glimpse of the tears in his eyes before he buries his face in Steve’s shoulder, fingers tightening around Steve’s.

Steve kisses the crown of his head. “It’s okay to feel lousy about how today went, and about things you’ve done that maybe weren’t so good. But you’re a good man. You’ll make things right and then you’ll make them better. That’s one of a thousand reasons why I love you.”

He can tell he’s overwhelming Tony, so he stops, letting his fingers trail back and forth lightly over Tony’s knuckles. Tony’s self-esteem is simultaneously sky high and rock bottom and more often than not the rock bottom wins out. There are certain things Tony is unshakably, to a fault, confident in, but none of them cover his basic decency. As brash and callous as he can seem, Tony is one of the most sensitive, thoughtful people Steve’s ever met. He never stops looking for a solution or a way to help as many people as he can and it had been humbling for Steve to realize that not only was it not always necessary to lay down on the wire, but it wasn’t even always the best option. Tony makes him see past those blind spots.

Steve sighs. “I’m not…good at this.”

Tony snorts into his shoulder. “You’re so earnest it physically pains me, Rogers.”

Steve used to think he’d done something wrong when Tony started calling him by his surname again, but he’s since realized it’s something Tony does when he’s feeling particularly vulnerable. He does it to disguise how he really feels.

“So I should keep telling you how incredible you are?” Steve says and Tony snickers wetly.

“By all means.”

So Steve does.


End file.
